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Lewis Hamilton and McLaren surged to the top of the F1 Drivers Championship with a thrilling victory at the weekend's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Hamilton's victory was the second consecutive 1-2 sweep for McLaren, with reigning F1 Champion Jenson Button claiming second in the highly strategic race.

Hamilton took pole position in Saturday's qualifying session and took a gamble by running with Bridgestone's softer compound tyres on the new tarmac of the Circuit de Gilles Villneuve.

The decision to go with a super soft-medium-medium Bridgestone tyre strategy paid off for the McLaren team which called the strategy perfectly as rivals Red Bull found the harder compounds didn't last as long.

"It's been a tremendous weekend. The team did an exceptional job!" Hamilton said of the win.

"Tyre strategy and circuit evolution were vital factors in today's race. The circuit was at its hottest of the weekend, meaning tyre performance was better than earlier in the weekend," said Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development.

"There were an interesting mix of pit stop strategies and tyre compound orders. A one stop strategy was not possible today and we saw a variety of two and three or more stops. The track surface and tyre performance evolution made the choices on the pitwall very difficult to make."

Hamilton's win has seen him jump to lead the Championship on 109 points, with Button second on 106 points. Australian Mark Webber finished fifth to drop from leading the points to third overall (103 points).

The teams will next meet at the European Grand Prix on the streets of Valencia in two weeks time.